The international standard for the presentation of results that is required of listed companies in the OHADA area is struggling to be applied to the BRVM. A majority of listed companies provide the minimum information service, which is not likely to motivate investors.

Compliance with the standards of the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS), the international standard for the publication of the results of listed companies, is struggling to become widespread on the Abidjan Regional Stock Exchange.

For the 2019 financial year, only 7 companies, including Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, Boloré Africa Logistics CI, Bernabe CI, ONATEL, SONATEL, SODECI and finally Oragroup have fully complied with the rule, publishing financial accounts that fully comply with the new rule.

In the first half of 2020, only two companies (Oragroup and ETI) once again fully complied with the rule. Three others (Bernabe CI, NSIA Bank CI, and Alios Côte d'Ivoire) published only a limited amount of their interim results under IFRS. Similarly, 24 companies have published their financial results for the 2019 financial year, partially complying with ifrs. In these cases, they simply respected the nomenclature of presentation of the accounts (Balance Sheet, Profit, and Cash), but did not make comments or clarifications as is the practice with this rule.

For the rest, there are still 9 BRVM companies that did not present their 2019 performance under the IFRS standard. For the available results for the 1st half of 2020, nearly 28 companies in this financial market presented either summary data of their performance or detailed information, but in the form of SYSCOHADA.

It was by a decision rendered in early 2017, that the Council of Ministers of ohada member countries had decided to require companies listed on their financial markets to publish their results under the IFRS standard, in addition to the SYSCOHADA form.

The deadline to comply was January 1, 2018. Ifrs is considered a standard that allows an optimal analysis of the opportunities and risks that companies represent. For example, it makes it possible, beyond the income statement, to read what the company actually achieves in terms of added value for shareholders.

But its use requires some adaptation, because the presentation of business operations differs greatly from that provided for by the OHADA chart of accounts. It may also require businesses to make new expenses to accommodate a rule that is not required by the administrative entities that work with them.

Overall, the communication of listed companies remains rather limited on the BRVM. Investors should be content with relatively small indications that occur at the time of publication of results.

However, IFRS is common in several African financial markets. For example, in Tunisia, Nigeria and even Ghana, listed companies give investors enough information when publishing their financial performance throughout each year